agribusiness

The Philippines: How can we contribute towards its progress?According to Business World, The Joint Foreign Chambers submitted a paper to President Aquino entitled, “Arangkada Philippines 2010: A Business Perspective” The JFC pointed out that the nation must focus on the following industries:

Underlying all the problems and weaknesses of the country and the economy is corruption and the weakening of our democratic institutions. We will restore trust in government by emphasizing good governance and anti-corruption to increase investment, regain people’s trust to pay proper taxes and ensure that the people’s money is well spent.

We will uphold the people’s right to information on matters of public concern and vigorously support the enactment of the Freedom of Information Bill in Congress

We will ensure transparency and citizen’s participation in crafting and implementing laws, rules and regulations and in monitoring the programs, projects and transactions of government

We will put into place a “zero-based” budgeting system to enhance transparency and improve efficiency.

Budget allocations for the different agencies of government will be shaped by their performance and their compliance with the reports of the Commission on Audit (COA)

Qualification standards, especially on eligibility, will be strictly followed, and at least half of the positions of Undersecretaries and Assistant Secretaries will be filled by honest and competent career civil servants to ensure continuity and sustainability of effective policies and programs

Performances of government agencies and civil servants will be evaluated rationally and systematically through an effective and measurable performance management system to be approved by the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

We will have broad based and inclusive economic growth through increased incomes by generating quality jobs and attracting more investments.

We will have a government that is not corrupt and is business-friendly, thus lowering the cost of doing business and production in the country.

We will reduce red tape, reducing the number of processes required to do business in the country.

We will improve infrastructure in transportation and housing, which will generate jobs and also support investments.

We will directly target industries with the greatest potential for growth and where the Philippines has a competitive advantage, industries that have already been identified by domestic and foreign business groups and include agribusiness, business process outsourcing, creative industries, infrastructure, manufacturing and logistics, socially responsible mining and tourism and retirement.

In the immediate short term, we will take care of the most vulnerable and marginalized sectors of society through programs such as conditional cash transfers dedicated, among others, to keeping healthy young children in school.

We will promote entrepreneurship that provides employment, helping small and medium firms with access to credit and diffusion of technologies and skills.

We will focus investment expenditure in the very urgent need to invest in education (especially in early childhood education) and in health.

We will promote technical/vocational schools to strengthen the labor supply and better match the needs of enterprises.

A clean government will facilitate macroeconomic stability, reigning in the record level deficits of the current administration, and bringing down the debt-to-GDP ratio.

We will plug revenue leakages by having competent and trustworthy tax collectors, broadening the tax base.

We will instruct DBM to lead an internal government review of all its costs and present a plan to reduce government overhead within six months.

We will review policies and programs to enhance productivity and modernize the agricultural sector.

We will increase investments to provide quality jobs for Filipinos by lowering the costs of doing business in our country.

We will level the playing field for businesses. We will encourage free and fair competition in a level playing field that stresses that one need not be a crony in order to be successful in this country. We will make our bidding and procurement policies and processes more transparent, and punish those who seek to circumvent procurement laws through collusion and other illegal means.

We will have easier, streamlined business procedures. We will transform our systems to foster service to the public. We will streamline the approval process, not only for setting up new businesses but also in the regular day-to-day transactions with government, such as the payment of taxes. We will do this on a national as well as the local level.

We will strategically target assistance to small and medium enterprises, and key industries where we have a competitive advantage to maximize our potential for job generation.

We will support small and medium enterprises. SMEs are the main generators of jobs in the country. But they lack access to credit and finance. They also need access to markets and to technology so that they can connect to the global economy. An Aquino government will not only encourage microfinance and small business loans, which was a cause supported by former President Corazon Aquino, but will also harness the remittances of our overseas workers by creating financial instruments that can attract remittances and be channeled to the rural sector. For market and technology access, we will encourage the private sector to link up with local firms, using information exchange, by giving the private sector the appropriate incentives.

We will directly target industries with the greatest potential for growth and where the Philippines has a competitive advantage, industries that have already been identified by domestic and foreign business groups and include agribusiness, business process outsourcing, creative industries, infrastructure, manufacturing and logistics, socially-responsible mining and tourism and retirement.

We will invest in our country’s top resource, our human resource, to make us more competitive and employable.

We will overhaul basic education by having universal pre-schooling and strengthening our basic education system to a 12-year cycle. For students who want to work after high school, we will strengthen technical-vocational education to provide them with needed skills.

We will solve the labor-mismatch problem by promoting better coordination between employers, academia and government, including through strengthening both public (e.g. Public Employment Service Offices -PESO) and private sector labor market information and exchange institutions, especially at the local levels.

The ProPinoy Project

The ProPinoy Project is a Global Community Center for all things Pinoy, to connect Filipinos at home and abroad by creating a space for ideas, trends and analyses about the Philippines and the global Pinoy community to inspire informed discussion and transformative action.

The ProPinoy Project is a Global Community Center for all things Pinoy, to connect Filipinos at home and abroad by creating a space for ideas, trends and analyses about the Philippines and the global Pinoy community to inspire informed discussion and transformative action.